你好 (Hello)

The preparation work for my mission in Xiamen is running at high speed. Fixing the last practical things is the easiest part. We also started with introduction calls with two of our client organizations in China. Our community project for the Xiamen Software Vocational College remained a bit silent; I assume this will kick off once we are on-site.

Lunchtime Peking time, early in the morning in Europe, and nearly midnight in the US, we had our first call with the client. That call went surprisingly well. We submitted prior to the call the agenda and presentation to the client and translators. During the call I noticed the enthusiasm of all participants, seems everybody was excited, well prepared and all wanted to make progress. The client was very fluent in English, which enabled us to discuss swiftly and in an interactive mode. Beside a mutual introduction by all participants, we discussed the client organizational structure and their expectations. Time passed so quickly that we overrun the planned schedule, so we wrapped up the call and the client promised to answer the open questions by mail. The answers came the same day. We are all looking forward to get the real discussion started when being in Xiamen.

A few days later (same early time in the morning for me), we had the next call with the second client. Upon opening of the call the client joined immediately and started talking in Mandarin. Unfortunately, my Mandarin isn't quite fluent (yet) but I could understand he was asking if someone was speaking his language. My colleagues Megan and Amit joined a minute later, but they weren't a great help neither. After a few minutes our translators joined .... wow .... rescued! I kindly asked them to start introducing themselves and to ask whom we had on the call. It turned out that the general manager was unable to join the call and the client was represented by the financial manager. We went through the proposed agenda, but I must admit that having a discussion over the phone with translators as an intermediate is not a given. Also this call overrun the planned schedule quickly, so we agreed to handle the remaining topics through e-mail exchanges after the meeting. It was a very useful introduction, but here also we think the real discussion will start when being in Xiamen

The remainder of the preparation work is mainly handled through e-mails; such as planning the agenda’s (which include planning the meetings with the college and the clients) and preparing who does what. I also finalize my private travel after the project. Now it’s time to think about what to take with me … what can I squeeze into my luggage, what do I really need?

再见 (Goodbye)